Etymology From Old English upweardes, equivalent to up + -ward.
1
In a direction from lower to higher; toward a higher place; in a course toward the source or origin.
We ran upward.
Looking inward, we are stricken dumb; looking upward, we speak and prevail.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page):
1 more example
If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2
In the upper parts; above.
Dagon his name, sea monster, upward man, / And downward fish.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
3
Yet more; indefinitely more; above; over.
From twenty years old and upward.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 1:3:
From the extremest upward of thy head.c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
upward
adj
Etymology From Old English upweardes, equivalent to up + -ward.
1
Directed toward a higher place.
with upward eye; with upward course
[…] economists should focus on efficiency and leave equity to others, to politicians or administrators. But the others regularly fail to materialize, so that when efficiency comes with upward redistribution—frequently though not inevitably—our recommendations become little more than a license for plunder.2024 March 23, Angus Deaton, “Rethinking My Economics”, in F&D Magazine: